( 1. ) THIS is a reference under Section 23 (1) of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947, by the Board of Revenue, and the questions presented for decision are :

(1) Whether the assessee-company who purchased during the course of two assessment periods building materials (iron and cement) on several occasions and sold the said materials from time to time to contractors, who were constructing buildings for the assessee-dealer, is a dealer within the meaning of Section 4 of the C. P. and Berar Sales Tax Act ? (2) Whether the assessee is liable to pay sales tax on such sales ? (3) Whether the Board of Revenue could take oral submissions on question of fact into consideration when there was a clear finding of the Sales Tax Commissioner regarding frequency of sales and profits made by the assessee on the sales in question?

( 2. ) THE questions arise in the following circumstances. The Bengal Nagpur Cotton Mills Ltd. , Rajnandgaon, gave a contract for the construction of some buildings to J. K. Mitra and Co. The mills obtained steel and cement required for the constructional work and handed over the material to their contractors. The price of the material was debite